Thursday, February 27, 2014

With Yum and Dong
now friends and helping each other with their children, Dum and Grunt also went
out hunting together.

The women decided
that they would collect fruit and shellfish and Dum and Grunt would catch
animals and birds and even fish if they could work how to snare them.

As they wandered
on the beach the men found the freshwater streams from the hills entering the
sea would slow up as the sea pushed them back upstream again.

Dum suddenly had
an idea to make a pond where the stream entered the sea and this might leave
any fish in the shallows stranded in the pond when the tide went out.

They built a rock
and pebble wall that would be under the sea at high tide but would retain the
fresh water when the tide went out until it flowed over the wall.

They were amazed
to find so many fish and other creatures trying to escape when the tide went
out and they went home that night grinning at their women with a haul of fish
knowing they would get more than a good feed that night.

They have some good news”

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hekeheke was
getting more advanced in her pregnancy and instead of going to visit Mahuika at
Gannet Island, Mahuika now came to visit her. When
she came she sometimes stayed with Hekeheke and Maui
but more often Ahuahu would insist, as the widow of his former friend Ruaimoko
and chief of Rocky Outcrop, she should stay with him and his family.

This worked out
well for Hekeheke as she and Maui would then be
invited to spend time with Ahuahu’s family as honored guests as well, which was
great privilege for them.

In the evenings
after their meal they would relax and one or other of them would tell stories.
One evening Ahu, Ahuahu’s first wife said to him “You never tell us stories
from the island where you were born. Do you not remember them?”

Ahuahu laughed and
said “Would you want to hear the stories that I remember from the time I was
but seven or eight years old? Surely I could only tell them as a child would?”

They all insisted,
so Ahuahu said, "Young boys remember
the silliest things and the first story I will tell will illustrate this. It is
the tale of the rat and the octopus."

“Rats as you know are great seafarers. Somehow they
have colonized all the islands in our mighty ocean that the white men call The
Pacific. How contrary that description is as we all know that the sea is not to
be trusted but should be respected and by doing so we might survive its terrors."

One day a rat boarded a canoe on his travels to find
a new home in Rarotonga where I was born so
many weeks journey to the north east of us here. However the canoe was caught
in a storm. All the human occupants were drowned when it capsized but the rat
undaunted as they are, swam around trying to find something to cling on to and
quite by chance scrabbled on to the head of an octopus.

“Please Octopus, take me to dry land and I will
reward you,” the rat said and the octopus being a bit soft agreed. So for
several days the octopus swam toward land and finally approaching an island. When the rat saw land he knew he could swim the rest
of the way and jumped off and started off for shore.

“What about my reward” cried the octopus.

“I left it on your head,” said the rat as he swam
rapidly away.

The Octopus reached up with one of eight tentacles to
see what the rat had left him and found only a black slimy mess of rat
droppings. The octopus was most upset but learned his lesson. From that day on
octopus all over the world when they are approached and feel threatened will
exude a great blob of black ink inherited from their ancestors to confuse the interloper and swim away under
cover lest it be another tricky rat that wants a lift.”

Everybody in the
whare was laughing so much that they were almost crying. Hatiti slapped Ahu on
the arm and said “Now all the children will be telling that story to each other.”

Ahuahu laughing
too, then said “All right then, I will tell you a different story”.

“Will it be a love
story?” asked Hekeheke, “One that I could tell”.

“Perhaps,
Hekeheke.” He replied smiling at her, bending over and touching her gently on the shoulder.

Dum rose early
the next day after Yum had eaten the poisoned berries. She had slept the night
and did not hear Wah-Wah cry as she was so ill. Dum now moved away from her to be near the entrance. Dum
looked at all the mothers in the cave and approached a woman whose child was
still feeding from her but was also eating other things. Dum indicated that Yum
was ill and pointed to Wah-Wah then to the woman’s breasts. She looked
nervously around to see if her husband was there and seeing he wasn’t, nodded
doubtfully.

Wah-Wah wasn’t
sure either and he kept turning back to look at Dum for reassurance but he eventually
suckled. As the woman whose name was Dong-Dong settled back to feed the baby,
she looked up at Dum and indicated he should go by shooing him away. Dum was uncertain but he
crawled a little way away and sat down near the entrance looking out for her
husband.

After Wah-Wah had
fed, Dong called to Dum and smiling handed him back. She then put her finger to
her lips and to indicate they should keep quiet. Dum shook his head and drew in
the sanda picture of him talking to
another man, her husband, with their spears on the ground. Dong looked doubtful
but finally agreed Dum should ask her husband for Dong’s approval and Dum would give him
something.

All day Dum tried
to think what to give him. Then just as the sun was setting and after Wah-Wah
had had two more feeds with Dong he saw Grunt, Dong’s husband coming home with a
rabbit slung over his shoulder. He decided give him a basketand indicate he wanted Dong to feed Wah-Wah.

He went back in
the cave to Yum who was barely awake and let her hold Wah-Wah and grabbed a basket and went to talk to Grunt.. He beckoned for Grunt to follow him to where Yum was and showed him that
she was ill and Wah-Wah needed food. He pointed back to where Dong was and
indicated she could feed him in exchange for the basket.

Grunt looked
closely at Yum and could see she was falling sleep again and wasn’t even holding
Wah-Wah properly; he then looked back at Dong who was feeding their own child with
water while starting to skin the rabbit he had given her before throwing it on the fire to cook.
He knew Dong would chew the rabbit meat up then put it their baby's mouth
as he already was putting everything else in.

Grunt looked down
at the basket, tested its strength and then nodded. Suddenly he looked as though
he would change his mind. He grabbed hold of Dum pointed to Dong, shook his
head and put his fist in Dum’s face to show him he wasn’t to touch Dong.

Dum almost made
the mistake of offering him another basket, but then realised that might mean
he would give more to have her as well, so he just nodded and bent down over
Yum and touched her face tenderly. That was enough for Grunt who laughed at the
thought of Dong wanting Dum who only had one eye.

So Wah-Wah was
fed by Dong and after a few days Yum was feeling much better and ravenous for
food and looking well again. She went down in the bushes each day with Dum and
the baby and expressed her milk until Dum was satisfied that the poison would
have gone from her body.

Yum knew Dum had
been a good father and she went to talk to Dong to thank her too. Dong loved
having the basket that Dum had made. She asked Yum if Dum could teach her how
to make one. Yum shook her head and said the two of them could make one
together. Dong was quite happy with that and didn't look disappointed that Dum would not approach her again.

I breathed you in

You nestled in me

We both rejoiced

In that lunatic beauty of love

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Dum’s family were
gathering berries and reeds from the dunes by the beach when Wah-Wah’s sudden
cry made Dum turn round and race back to where Yum and the baby were and he
found her writhing on the ground with the baby still strapped to her back.

Dum pulled
Wah-Wah off and turned Yum over to find she was frothing at the mouth and
delirious with a few black berries still in her clenched hand.

He quickly
strapped Wah-Wah to his own back, picked Yum up and struggled to carry them
both to the sea shore where he placed her in a sitting position.

He scooped up
some sea water and forced her to drink it until she vomited with a mighty explosion. He kept repeating the
treatment until she shook her head and looked at him and pushed a hand in his
face and shook her head again.

Satisfied she was
on the mend he carried them both home to the cave with difficulty and gave her
water from the stream to drink and then she lay down to sleep.

Dum now had a
problem, would it be safe for her to feed Wah-Wah or should he get another
mother in the cave to feed him?

Her man to cherish

Hekeheke knew she was pregnant now and was
very happy about it. She thought that she must go and tell Mahuika because she
was one of the friends she wanted to tell first. She had told Maui
her husband of course and as expected he wanted lay his head on her tummy and
talk to baby because he was that sort of person. She was so glad that he was
her husband that each morning she wanted to shout it out loud for everyone to
hear. Although they probably guessed already and Horowai, Tangaroa’s wife would
be told too as they they were such great friends.The day after she told Maui
her husband she went to the meeting house as usual to tell the children a
story. She was glad she had finished all the stories she knew about Maui the wilful hero of long ago as she
had a love story to tell the children today. So that morning as usual with a
different youngster sitting with her, she began her story:

A long time ago the beautiful goddess in the
heavens Hapai came floating down to earth one night to inspect that land they
could see from on high. As she wandered about unseen she saw this handsome young
man sleeping in his whare (house) who she immediately fell in love with as he
had such a noble appearance.So she went
up to him as he slept and lifted his covers and lay down by his side just
looking at him with admiration. Went he turned over he thought that a girl from
his village had boldly come to him. So he wrapped his arms around her and told
her she was beautiful. Hapai was very pleased that he was so bold and confident
and he thinking that she was woman of his world stroked and fondled her and so from then on they lived together. Their union was very happy and soon a baby was born, a
little girl. Hapai was happy living on earth with Tawhaki and their baby and so she revealed to him that she was from the heavens above. He loved her so much that he
didn’t see there was a problem in that until one day as their little girl was
growing up Tawhaki scolded their daughter for being naughty as children
sometime are.Hapai was very cross that he did this as she
was upset that both she and her daughter who heavenly beings should be
reprimanded by this mere human. Her motherly love was wounded so deeply that
she resolved to leave her earthly husband and return to her heavenly home.Tawhaki realizing what he had done tried to
apologize but Hapai with her child in her arms climbed to the roof of their
house and standing on the carved tekoteko (figurehead
on gable) above the front of the dwelling said farewell to Tawhaki
saying if he wished to follow her to her far-away home he must seek a secure vine
or forest rope by which to ascend to the higher regions where they would be. She said that it
would however be difficult for him to follow her. Despite pleading with
her not to go she sailed off into the sky and vanished from view. For a longtime Tawhaki mourned for his
lovely wife and child. Then he determined to see them again, he set out to find some
way to ascend to the land of the gods. He entered the great forest where the
tallest trees were and looked for a tree-vine by which he might climb to the
sky. There in the deep and gloomy forest as he was searching he met the
guardian of the forest the old and blind Mata-kere-po, who was in fact his
grandmother. She somehow survived in the dark forest with other creatures of
the night but did not recognize him when he greeted her. Tawhaki could see it
was his father’s mother and greeted her as such and in doing so miraculously cured
her blindness. When he told her he wanted to climb up to heaven to rejoin Hapai,
Mata-kere-po in her gratitude showed him the aka
(vine) he could trust. He grasped it and shook it, and began his great
climb to the upper regions. As he climbed, the old woman chanted her
incantation of encouragement, the chant for his pikitanga
(ascent) up the sacred vine called the toi-huarewa
(rise to the summit).

“Piki ake TawhakiKi te rangi tuatahi,Ki te rangi tuarua”

“Ascend on
high, Tawhaki,To the first heaven,To the second heaven.”

And so on the recital went, right up to the tenth heaven where Hapai’s home should
be. The high winds of the heights buffeted Tawhaki, he was blown and tossed to
and fro, but he clung tightly to the secure aka vine and steadily climbed to the uppermost heaven. Tawhaki finally
came to where he hoped he would find his wife. It resembled the land
of earth in some respects, for there was a forest, and as he explored it he saw
a party of workmen making a canoe out of a great felled tree. He joined them
and when they were about to go home he offered to carry their axes to their
village. He waited until they were out of sight, and he set to work on the
half-finished canoe, and chopped away until he had completed the hollowing out
and shaping. Then he followed at a distance from the men as they walked home.
The other villagers did not take much notice of Tawhaki until they saw his joyful
meeting with the beautiful Hapai, for she too lived in that village. They were all
amazed, for she was a tapu woman and a high Kahurangi
(chieftainess) herself.

The loving reunion of Tawhaki, Hapai and their
daughter was a meeting from which they would never part again, for he remained in the celestial
home. The inhabitants of that place knew he had become a god too, for he was of
radiant appearance and lightning flashed from his arms showing that he was one
of them.

The little girl sitting on her then turned to her an asked "Will you always tell stories to us, Hekeheke?" Hekeheke nodded and said "I will try, little one. Why do you ask?" The little girl then said "My mother said you would probably have a baby of your own soon.""One day perhaps." Hekeheke replied smiling shyly.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Every night Dum
and Yum curled up together. She was very big now and didn’t hit him like she used to. He was able to put his face close to hers and breathe in her scent and to
nibble at her cheek and her lips, her ears and nose with his lips. She liked
him fussing over her and drawing pictures on her bare flesh. When he did this
she would sigh with happiness and fall asleep. Early one morning when it was
still dark he woke up to hear her moaning and struggling to get up. He helped
her to get to the entrance of the cave and in the dim light before sunrise she
turned to him and pushed him in the face indicating he wasn’t to follow her. It
was a gentle gesture and showed her love for him but he didn’t want to leave
her when there was a chance of danger from wild animals. She sensed this and
this time she reluctantly showed him her fist in the half light, turned and staggered away.

Dum watched her
go and then followed behind quietly at a distance trying not to be seen. Then
all of a sudden there were two women pushing him out the way. The first asked
“Yum?” so he pointed to where she had gone. The other glared at him shook her head
and pointed back to the cave. So Dum returned to the cave and sat outside
waiting.

The sun rose and
the birds started singing and while he was waiting Dum started stripping leaves
from the trees to make a bed for the baby. Then he thought about the baskets he
had made to carry fruit and shellfish so he started making another basket. It had
to be bigger than the ones he had made before so he made one longer than his
forearm and by the time he had finished it the leaves he had gathered were going
limp and soft so he gathered them up and placed them in the basket.

Yum was very
pleased when she came home with the baby and saw what he had done but didn’t
put baby in it. She cradled him in her arms shading its eyes from the light and
then sat with her back to the rocks nursing it. She looked up saw Dum looking
awkward so she patted the ground beside her for him to sit down too. She took
his hand let him touch the baby then sat back and tried to get the baby to
suckle. Yum smiled when she saw the look in Dum’s eye.

Dum then pointed to the baby and looked at Yum quizzically. He then pointed to Yum and said "Yum", he then pointed to himself and said "Dum" then pointed to the baby again and suggested "Bum?" Yum looked strangely at him then shook her head vigorously and was just going to say somwething when the baby opened its mouth and cried. Yum immediately smiled and then said "Wah-Wah" pointing to the baby.

Dum then repeated the name "Wah-Wah" and the baby half opened his eyes and stared at him. So Yum smiled and making baby talk said in baby talk "Duh-Duh" as she pointed to Dum showing Wah-Wah his daddy.

Her precious daughter

There down in the street

In splendid isolation

Her daughter's own car

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Winter had
arrived, Yum was pregnant, cross and very hungry which was bad because food was
in such short supply.

Dum was hungry,
Yum was very hungry and her tummy was quite round but her face was thinner and
they were reduced to eating the dying leaves were still left of the trees that
just gave them the impression they were filling their stomachs.

Each day Dum
would take his baskets out with him to put any food he could find in them which
was very little for even the sea was less productive.

He couldn’t catch
the birds on the sea shore and sat despondent with his basket with a few
shellfish in the shallows to keep them fresh as so many stank when he got them
home.

He wandered along
the shore collecting some seaweed that was edible when it was washed in the
stream near their cave and then went back to the basket.

To his surprise
there was a fish in it nibbling at the contents so Dum quickly grabbed the
basket and lifted it up with fish still in it; now they could eat a fish tonight!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Food was always
in short supply for Dum and Yum and what they did get was always hard to find.
Berries were few and far between so many were looking for them as well as the
animals and birds that shared their world. Despite this Yum was getting a fat
tummy, she knew why but Dum didn’t realize she was pregnant even when he put
his head on tummy and heard the regular beat of her life within go faster there
than when laid with his head on her breasts. It was only when she pointed to a
little child and pointed to her tummy that Dum realised she was pregnant. So
that night he thought a lot and in the morning when she was happy to stay close
to the cave he went of to fetch food by himself. He had to try to remember not
to eat everything he found but to save some for Yum. So he went down by the
slowly moving river and ripped some reeds out of the water and cut his hands in
the process. When he had got enough he sat on the bank and wove the pieces
together to make a basket tucking the ends of the reeds back into themselves to
make a rim. Looking at the finished basket he was delighted and squealed with
pleasure saying “creeeeel”.

He picked as many
berries as he could and put them in the basket then went down to the sea to see
if there were any shell fish there and he put them in the basket as well. He
saw there were fish in the water but couldn’t for the life in him work out how
to catch them even though he tried. When the sun started to set he knew it was
time to go back to the cave. Yum was sitting outside in the fading light and
looked up when she saw him and nodded at him. He placed the basket in front of
her and said “creel” to her pointing at it. She nodded then picked over the
contents and prised open the shellfish with her thumbnails and ate some and
others she tossed over to him to share. Dum was about to eat these himself when
their smell made him stare at her with horror and when he threw them into the
bushes she laughed. He really liked Yum, she was very funny.

Hekeheke returned
to the Meeting house at the same time the following week. She decided to tell
the children the last two Maui stories she knew and hope that she could then go back to
telling stories that were perhaps better for the children than that tricky
ancestor from the earliest times when their history began that amused the boys
so much but did not show how they could live their own lives with honour.
Generally there were more girls than boys among her listeners as the boys often
went fishing with their fathers and she wanted to tell more stories for them.
Often the youngest children would want to sit with her and she loved that to
happen.

.

Baby Maui grew-up with
Tama-nui-ki-te-Rangi who taught him many things and over that time got to hear
about the great whare (the great House of Assembly) where kanikani (dancing)
and kapa-haka (music and singing) where performed.

One day he decided to go to
visit this famous whare. When he got there he changed himself into a little
bird, crept inside and hid behind one of the boys there to watch. Every night, before
the kanikani the kapa-haka began.

Taranga the mother of four
boys would then count her children so that they might be ready to join in.
“Maui-taha, that is one; Maui-roto, that is two; Maui-pae, that is three;
Maui-waho and that is the fourth.” But then she noticed there was another boy
in the line, “Who are you?” She asked.

“I am your child too,” said Maui.

She shook her head, puzzled
so she counted them again. “No, No! There should be only four of you; this is
the first time I have ever seen you before.”

Taranga and the new boy argued
for a long time, Maui saying the he was her
youngest son and the mother saying that she had only had four sons. Finally she
got angry and cried out, “Be off now with now, get out of this place for you
are the child of someone else.”

Maui
said, “Very well, I will go then for I must be the child of some other person. I
was sure I was your child as I knew I was born by the side of the sea. I was
wrapped in my mother’s hair because my mother thought me dead, and I was placed
in the sea. But then I was found by Tama-nui-ki-te-Rangi, who chased away the
flies and the birds, and who took the jelly-fish and the seaweed from me and
who unwrapped me from my mother’s Tikitiki (topknot) and it was him who has raised
me as his own child.”

Maui then continued, “Even before I was born as I
was growing inside you I knew the names of my brothers; Maui-taha,
Maui-roto, Maui-pae and Maui-waho and I am little Maui
your last baby that you thought had died who is sitting before you now. However I
will go because you tell me to for I must respect you.”

When the Taranga heard all
this, she cried “No! Stop for you must indeed be my last born; the son of my
old age; the son that I thought dead, for the story you tell is a story that
only I would know - because of that your name shall be Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga
(Maui topknot of Taranga); so from then on Maui
lived with his own family.

Hekeheke looked down and saw that the little girl that was sitting in her lap had fallen asleep with her
thumb in her mouth. Hekeheke had a sudden and overwhelming desire to have a
baby of her own.

Hekeheke smiled to herself as she remembered Maui
and her together last night and murmured to herself “Surely it will not be long.”

So I tiptoed to one side, sat
beside a bush and breathed in the beautiful scented air of heaven that was
drifting toward me, and hoped I would be dancing the tango in paradise.

About Me

Retired and glad to be so. Family is the most important thing to have and enjoy.
Now please remember, most of what I tell you is fiction. Much of it is based on personal experiences, recollections and just plain fabrication!
Often in tales about myself I may appear to be the hero, well I am not going to be the villain am I?

Some of my favorite blogs

What else am I doing?

Latest Movies seen

My Cousin Rachel - Despite reading some not too flattering reviews of this film and seeing previous interpretations I thought the story as presented was engaging and characters believable in this new remake of the classical story. Starring Rachel Weisz and Sam Caflin. 8/10